[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2672 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2672

  To provide opportunities for collaborative restoration projects on 
  National Forest System and other public domain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2002

Mr. Bingaman (for himself and Mr. Craig) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide opportunities for collaborative restoration projects on 
  National Forest System and other public domain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Community-Based Forest and Public 
Lands Restoration Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to create a coordinated, consistent, community-based 
        program to restore and maintain the ecological integrity of 
        degraded National Forest System and public lands watersheds;
            (2) to ensure that restoration of degraded National Forest 
        System and public lands recognizes variation in forest type and 
        fire regimes, incorporates principles of community forestry, 
        local and traditional knowledge, and conservation biology; and, 
        where possible, uses the least intrusive methods practicable;
            (3) to enable the Secretaries to assist small, rural 
        communities to increase their capacity to restore and maintain 
        the ecological integrity of surrounding National Forest System 
        and public lands, and to use the by-products of such 
        restoration in value-added processing;
            (4) to require the Secretaries to monitor ecological, 
        social, and economic conditions based on explicit mechanisms 
        for accountability;
            (5) to authorize the Secretaries to expand partnerships and 
        to contract with non-profit organizations, conservation groups, 
        small and micro-businesses, cooperatives, non-Federal 
        conservation corps, and other parties to encourage them to 
        provide services or products that facilitate the restoration of 
        damaged lands; and
            (6) to improve communication and joint problem solving, 
        consistent with Federal and State environmental laws, among 
        individuals and groups who are interested in restoring the 
        diversity and productivity of watersheds.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) The term ``public lands'' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and 
        Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1702(e)).
            (2) The term ``National Forest System'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 
        Renewable Resources Planning Act (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
            (3) The term ``Secretaries'' means the Secretary of 
        Agriculture acting through the Chief of the Forest Service and 
        the Secretary of the Interior acting through the Director of 
        the Bureau of Land Management.
            (4) The term ``restore'' means to incorporate historic, 
        current, and new scientific information as it becomes 
        available, to reintroduce, maintain, or enhance the 
        characteristics, functions, and ecological processes of 
        healthy, properly functioning watersheds.
            (5) The term ``local'' means within the same region where 
        an associated restoration project, or projects, are conducted.
            (6) The term ``micro-enterprise'' means a non-subsidiary 
        business or cooperative employing five or fewer people.
            (7) The term ``small enterprise'' means a non-subsidiary 
        business or cooperative employing between 6 and 150 people.
            (8) The term ``value-added processing'' means additional 
        processing of a product to increase its economic value and to 
        create additional jobs and benefits where the processing is 
        done.
            (9) The term ``low-impact equipment'' means the use of 
        equipment for restorative, maintenance, or extraction purposes 
        that minimizes or eliminates impacts to soils and other 
        resources.
            (10) The terms ``rural'' and ``rural area'' mean any area 
        other than a city or town that has a population of greater than 
        50,000 inhabitants.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    (a) Requirements.--the Secretaries shall jointly establish a 
National Forest System and public lands collaborative community-based 
restoration program. The purposes of the program shall be:
            (1) to identify projects that will restore degraded 
        National Forest System and public lands; and
            (2) implement such projects in a collaborative way and in a 
        way that builds rural community capacity to restore and 
        maintain in perpetuity the health of the National Forest System 
        and other public lands.
    (b) Cooperation.--The Secretaries may enter into cooperative 
agreements with willing tribal governments, State and local 
governments, private and nonprofit entities and landowners for 
protection, restoration, and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat, 
forests, and other resources on the National Forest System and public 
lands.
    (c)(1) Monitoring.--The Secretaries shall establish a multiparty 
monitoring, evaluation, and accountability process in order to assess 
the cumulative accomplishments or adverse impacts of projects 
implemented under this Act. The Secretaries shall include any 
interested individual or organization in the monitoring and evaluation 
process.
    (2) Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretaries shall submit a report to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on 
Resources of the United States House of Representatives detailing the 
information gathered as a result of the multiparty monitoring and 
evaluation. The report shall include an assessment on whether, and to 
what extent, the projects funded pursuant to this Act are meeting the 
purposes of the Act.
    (3) The Secretaries shall ensure that monitoring data is collected 
and compiled in a way that the general public can easily access. The 
Secretaries may collect the data using cooperative agreements, grants, 
or contracts with small or micro-enterprises, or Youth Conservation 
Corps work crews or related partnerships with State, local, and other 
non-Federal conservation corps.
    (d) The Secretaries shall hire additional outreach specialists, 
grants and agreements specialists, and contract specialists in order to 
implement this Act.

SEC. 5. FOREST RESTORATION AND VALUE-ADDED CENTERS.

    (a) Establishment.--Subject to subsection (d), the Secretaries 
shall provide cost-share grants, cooperative agreements, or both to 
establish Restoration and Value-Added Centers in order to improve the 
implementation of collaborative, community-based restoration projects 
on National Forest System or public lands.
    (b) Requirements.--The Restoration and Value-Added Centers shall 
provide technical assistance to non-profit organizations, existing 
small or micro-enterprises or individuals interested in creating a 
natural-resource related small or micro-enterprise in the following 
areas--
            (1) restoration, and
            (2) processing techniques for the byproducts of restoration 
        and value-added manufacturing.
    (c) Additional Requirements.--The Restoration and Value-Added 
Centers shall provide technical assistance in--
            (1) using the latest, independent peer reviewed, scientific 
        information and methodology to accomplish restoration and 
        ecosystem health objectives,
            (2) workforce training for value-added manufacturing and 
        restoration,
            (3) marketing and business support for conservation-based 
        small and micro-enterprises,
            (4) accessing urban markets for small and micro-enterprises 
        located in rural communities,
            (5) developing technology for restoration and the use of 
        products resulting from restoration,
            (6) accessing funding from government and non-government 
        sources, and
            (7) development of economic infrastructure including 
        collaborative planning, proposal development, and grant writing 
        where appropriate.
    (d) Locations.--The Secretaries shall ensure that at least one 
Restoration and Value-Added Center is located within Idaho, New Mexico, 
Montana, northern California, and eastern Oregon and that every 
Restoration and Value-Added Center is easily accessible to rural 
communities that are adjacent to or surrounded by National Forest 
System or other public lands throughout the region.
            (1) The Secretaries may enter into partnerships and 
        cooperative agreements with other Federal agencies or other 
        organizations, including local non-profit organizations, 
        conservation groups, or community colleges in creating and 
        maintaining the Restoration and Value-Added Centers.
            (2) The appropriate Regional Forester and State Bureau of 
        Land Management Director will issue a request for proposals to 
        create a Restoration and Value-Added Center. The Regional 
        Forester and State Bureau of Land Management Director will 
        select a proposal with input from existing Resource and 
        Technical Advisory Committees where appropriate.
            (3) The Secretary of Agriculture shall provide cost-share 
        grants, cooperative agreements, or both equaling 75 percent of 
        each Restoration and Value-Added Center's operating costs, 
        including business planning, not to exceed $1 million annually 
        per center.
            (4) Within 30 days of approving a grant or cooperative 
        agreement to establish a Restoration and Value-Added Center, 
the Secretary shall notify the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Resources of 
the United States House of Representatives and identify the recipient 
of the grant award or cooperative agreement.
            (5) After a Restoration and Value-Added Center has operated 
        for five years, the Secretary of Agriculture shall assess the 
        center's performance and begin to reduce, by 25 percent 
        annually, the level of Federal funding for the center's 
        operating costs.
    (e) Report.--No later than five years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit a report to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the 
Committee on Resources of the United States House of Representatives, 
assessing the Restoration and Value-Added Centers created pursuant to 
this section. The report shall include--
            (1) descriptions of the organizations receiving assistance 
        from the centers, including their geographic and demographic 
        distribution,
            (2) a summary of the projects the technical assistance 
        recipients implemented, and
            (3) an estimate of the number of non-profit organizations, 
        small enterprises, micro-enterprises, or individuals assisted 
        by the Restoration and Value-Added Centers.

SEC. 6. COMMUNITY-BASED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM AND PUBLIC LANDS 
              RESTORATION.

    (a) Establishment.--(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and 
notwithstanding Federal procurement laws, the Federal Grant and 
Cooperative Agreements Act of 1977 (31 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), and the 
Competition in Contracting Act, on an annual basis, the Secretaries 
shall limit competition for special salvage timber sales, timber sale 
contracts, service contracts, construction contracts, supply contracts, 
emergency equipment rental agreements, architectural and engineering 
contracts, challenge cost-share agreements, cooperative agreements, and 
participating agreements to ensure that the percentage of the total 
dollar value identified in paragraph (2), but not to exceed 50 percent 
in any year, is awarded to--
            (A) natural-resource related small or micro-enterprises;
            (B) Youth Conservation Corps crews or related partnerships 
        with State, local and other non-Federal conservation corps;
            (C) any entity that will hire and train local people to 
        complete the service or timber sale contract;
            (D) any entity that will re-train non-local traditional 
        forest workers to complete the service or timber sale contract; 
        or
            (E) a local entity that meets the criteria to qualify for 
        the Historically Underutilized Business Zone Program under 
        section 32 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657a).
    (2) In the first year beginning after the date of enactment of this 
Act, the Secretaries shall ensure that 10 percent of the total dollar 
value of contracts and agreements are awarded pursuant to paragraph 
(1). In the second year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretaries shall ensure that 20 percent of the total dollar value of 
contracts and agreements are awarded pursuant to paragraph (1). In 
subsequent years, the percentage shall increase by 10 percent each 
year.
    (b) Notice of National Forest System Plan.--At the beginning of 
each fiscal year, each unit of the National Forest System shall make 
its advanced acquisition plan publicly available, including publishing 
it in a local newspaper for a minimum of 15 working days.
    (c) Best Value Contracting.--In order to implement projects, the 
Secretaries may select a source for performance of a contract or 
agreement on a best value basis with consideration of one or more of 
the following:
            (1) Understanding of the technical demands and complexity 
        of the work to be done.
            (2) Ability of the offeror to meet desired ecological 
        objectives of the project and the sensitivity of the resources 
        being treated.
            (3) The potential for benefit to local small and micro-
        enterprises.
            (4) The past performance and qualification by the 
        contractor with the type of work being done, the application of 
        low-impact equipment, and the ability of the contractor or 
        purchaser to meet desired ecological conditions.
            (5) The commitment of the contractor to training workers 
        for high wage and high skill jobs.
            (6) The commitment of the contractor to hiring highly 
        qualified workers and local residents.
    (d) Limitation.--The Secretaries shall ensure that the Forest 
Service and Bureau of Land Management Memorandum of Understanding on 
the Small Business Set-Aside Programs shall not be reduced below the 
Small Business Administration shares prescribed in the Small Business 
Set-Aside Program as a result of this Act.

SEC. 7. NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM RESEARCH AND TRAINING.

    (a) Estabishment of Program.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
establish a program of applied research using the resources of Forest 
Service Research Station and the Forest Product Laboratory. The 
purposes of the program shall be to--
            (1) identify restoration methods and treatments that 
        minimize impacts to the land, such as through the use of low-
        impact techniques and equipment; and
            (2) test and develop value-added products created from the 
        by-products of restoration.
    (b) Dissemination of Research to Communities.--The Secretary of 
Agriculture shall disseminate the applied research to rural 
communities, including the Restoration and Value-Added Centers, 
adjacent to or surrounded by National Forest System or public lands. 
The Secretary of Agriculture shall annually conduct training workshops 
and classes in such communities to ensure that residents of such 
communities have access to the information.
    (c) Cooperation.--In establishing the program required pursuant to 
this section, the Secretary of Agriculture may partner with nonprofit 
organizations or community colleges.
    (d) Monitoring.--In designing the multiparty monitoring and 
evaluation process to assess the cumulative accomplishments or adverse 
impacts of projects implemented under this Act pursuant to section 4, 
the Secretaries shall use the expertise of Forest Service Research 
Stations.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    These are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act.
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